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Bill Gates once expressed a similar view about rampant piracy of Microsoft software in China [1]: > Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in C
by 0xcde4c3db 2y ago
Bill Gates once expressed a similar view about rampant piracy of Microsoft software in China [1]:
> Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, people don’t pay for the software. Someday they will, though. And as long as they’re going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.
[1] https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-apr-09-fi-micropiracy9-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-apr-09-fi-micro...
- jpeter 2y agoWell did they figure it out?
- shuckles 2y agoMy feeling is this logic only holds if your product is being pirated because it’s the best. Windows was certainly better than Linux, but ultimately when a consumer can afford it they’d rather buy a Mac.
- DSMan195276 2y agoI don't think it's that simple. Plenty of people won't buy a Mac because it's "different", which of them is 'better' never factors into it. While I don't use Photoshop I'd assume that logic holds even stronger - if you know how to use Photoshop you're going to ask for that rather than a tool you don't know how to use.
- shuckles 2y agoIf people were pirating Photoshop only because it was easy to pirate, my guess is when it came to professional work or another occasion where they had the funds to pay for image editing software, they would overcome whatever friction necessary to buy the best. That definitely happens in other cases like video editing where easy to access software is different than what studios pay for. As a thought experiment: if Photoshop was means tested and free to anyone who couldn’t afford it, would that actually convert users when they had money?
- fragmede 2y agoHow many people ever got rich enough to pay for a copy of WinRar?
- nobutterbetter 2y ago[dead]
- hsbauauvhabzb 2y agoI grew up on pirated windows, and never had the opportunity or means to pirate Mac software. I now cannot stand the mac software - alt tab is broken (for me), as are copy / paste. I think piracy had a huge involvement in my preferred software.
- shuckles 2y agoRemapping the command key to alt is a pretty straightforward feature built into the OS.
- RussianCow 2y agoI think they were likely referring to the behavior and not the choice of shortcut keys. On Windows, alt+tab switches between all open windows across a apps, whereas in macOS, you have separate shortcuts for switching between apps vs windows within the same app. Personally, I find the macOS behavior really irritating and unintuitive, but thankfully there are plenty of apps out there that solve this issue so it's not really a problem.
- shuckles 2y agoInteresting — I didn’t think about the difference and could see how it is annoying.
- hsbauauvhabzb 2y ago10 year old me didn’t know this. I’m comfortable enough with windows (and anything other than mac) that there is zero chance I’ll switch to the OS or their key layout, which I will concur is superior.
- mixermachine 2y agoI switched from a PC to a Mac at work. Macbook Pro M2 Pro, 32GB RAM. The performance and battery life are absolutely lovely. Compile tasks run great. MacOS on the other hand not really. It is better/acceptable after I installed some Plugins. But I still wish Linux was fully supported (and my company would allow it). Even Windows would be an upgrade currently for me.
- plufz 2y agoWhat plugins do you use? And what do you miss from windows? As a long time mac user I am probably unaware of neat stuff from windows.
- cwillu 2y agoProbably the biggest one for me is alt-tab switching between windows, without regard for whether its the same app or not. This matters, because keeping track of whether the documentation I'm referring to are currently in a gvim window vs a vim terminal vs a browser, and whether the work I'm currently doing _with_ the documentation is in a gvim window, a terminal, or a browser, is enraging. The key to bring back the last window I looked at should not change depending on whether the app name happens to be different.
- nehal3m 2y agoBy default the hotkey for tabbing through app instances is Cmd + ~ I bound it to Option + tab though, more intuitive to me.
- aseo 2y ago^ b/c of this, I actually like how MacOS separated app and window switching. It's a bit more fine grained, and I can use either of the two depending on the specific intention.
- nox101 2y agothat doesn't actually solve the OP's problem as it still requires you to be aware of all your windows and which ones are in current app vs which ones are in different apps.
- 999900000999 2y agoAlright. My current laptop was about 750$ , has a 8845HS and I added a 4TB SSD for 200$. If I wanted to do the same thing with a Mac I'd be spending over 3k. I actually have a M1 Air, but Apple decided soldering SSDs would be a good idea. Dualboot Linux and Windows for the best experience...
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> If I wanted to do the same thing with a Mac I'd be spending over 3k Right, "when a consumer can afford to."
- 999900000999 2y agoOk. So instead of being able to upgrade to a 8TB in a few years when the prices come down, I can just throw out my 3K Mac and buy a new one. Only 5k for the 8TB Mac. I make music and I'm getting into photography and film making. I prefer more space over being having to carry around an external SSD with me I also enjoy gaming, which is still much better on Windows. If I want to play some COD or Tony Hawk HD, that's very well supported. Not really going to work on a Mac. Macs do have a much more premium feel to them, but I've had great experiences with cheap laptops. Even if I drop it, shucks, I'm out 750$, not 3k.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> instead of being able to upgrade to a 8TB in a few years when the prices come down, I can just throw out my 3K Mac and buy a new one Mac buyers fall into two groups: those who don't need that upgrade (most consumers) and those who can afford to spec it up at the beginning, cost be damned. That's what OP meant by "when the consumer can afford to." > also enjoy gaming, which is still much better on Windows 100%. I don't think Apple has meaningfully contested this space.
- 999900000999 2y agoRealistically I can afford a 1500$ M3 Pro with a 512 drive. I'd just prefer to save my money and get significantly more storage. I will miss Logic though...
- layer8 2y agoNah, the hardware is neat for the most part, but a lot of people don’t necessarily like macOS.
- nijave 2y agoNo
- tempestn 2y agoDefinitely not true for me. I had a windows pc and mac laptop for years (as well as Linux home and work servers), but when it came time to replace the laptop I switched to windows, mostly because it's more configurable. Also integrates better with my Android phone, which I prefer to iOS for similar reasons.
- eru 2y agoApple has shiny hardware, yes. Compatibility for many programs people care about is a lot better on Windows than on Mac (or Linux). That has improved a lot in recent years, of course. Especially for games. Linux has great compatibility for lots of hardware, but Windows is still better supported. Mac has almost non-existent compatibility for hardware: you need to buy an Apple branded device to run Apple's operating system. For peripherals Windows has probably the best compatibility list, but Linux can often be better for very old stuff. Mac's record is spotty at best.
- mulmen 2y ago> Mac has almost non-existent compatibility for hardware: you need to buy an Apple branded device to run Apple's operating system. Not only an Apple device but a recent Apple device. I have a 2014 RMBP that works flawlessly. I haven’t been able to install MacOS on it for a couple of years now.
- eru 2y agoOh, the same for my 2016 MacBook Pro.
- jabbany 2y agoI guess in a way? They learned from XP/7 that they'll never recoup it though licenses so now its ads and subscription upsells for everybody.
- SR2Z 2y agoI think they would have moved to ads and subscriptions either way. It's hard to resist that sweet, sweet cash flow.
- tomrod 2y agoFoolishly though. Ads don't work nearly as well as what a lot of companies pay for them.
- eyelidlessness 2y agoThat’s foolish for the companies paying for them, maybe not for the companies charging to vend them.
- colpabar 2y agoYeah, they're putting ads everywhere and selling all your activity data.
- gibolt 2y ago"Ghost" Windows is a thing of the past, and most modern installations in China are legit. Bing is also an approved search engine, even if not used by a majority of people. I'm sure their revenue is significantly higher than a decade ago.
- metadat 2y agoThey've managed to hoist from Windows OS biz to staying relevant, so yeah I'd say they're doing okay.
- hrisng 2y agoNot from China but in the same region. Most new machines here now have a legit OEM copy of Windows. It's getting much more affordable, even in third-world countries now that it's not worth it to risk going for a pirated copy. Still happen, but much less common than it was.
- p1necone 2y ago> Most new machines here now have a legit OEM copy of Windows. Are they legit legit? Or is this just because it's trivially easy to get a "legit" OEM license for free via Microsoft Activation Scripts?
- nirav72 2y agoOEM licenses for windows 11/10 are dirt cheap even here in the U.S. You can get a single use (can only activate once) for around $10-15. Most of those online sellers are based in China or HK. So yeah, those are legit OEM licenses. Since MS doesn't seem to have issues activating them. (I've bought them for VM use before)
- chii 2y ago> a single use (can only activate once) i am unfamiliar with windows activation, does it activate once only, meaning that if you tried to reinstall on the same machine, you can't reuse the same license?
- nirav72 2y agoCorrect. If you need to do a fresh install on the same or new drive, then you'll need a new key. I only use these cheap OEM keys for VMs and use more expensive retail keys that persist with MS login on physical hardware. Although I know plenty of people that build own gaming machines with OEM keys.
- hn_throwaway_99 2y agoAhh, yes, the "drug dealer" model of sales. Netflix also famously went this route, allowing rampant password sharing and then deciding "Hey, we want to get paid!" On one hand I don't have a problem with companies wanting to get paid for what they produce, but on the other, given that allowing the piracy is a deliberate decision they made from the get-go, I don't have a problem telling them to get bent once they decide "Time for profits! Enshittification it is..."
- okr 2y agoI wish i had a product that people just wanna use and i have not figured out yet, how to monetize it. What a luxury position to be in. Sigh.
- eru 2y agoYou can give away dollar bills. It's a service that lots of people really want to use. You just need to figure out how to charge for it. (Lest you think I am joking, have a look at the 'MoviePass economy.')
- johnnyanmac 2y agoThere's defintieyl some MBA's crunching numbers, but I don't think piracy is "deliberate" per se. It's more an inevtiability, as inevitable as it is that businesses find ways around it. Deliberacy is companies dumping low key sanctioned torrents themselves (which is stupid, because even back in the 90's there was the idea of "lite/trial/watermarked" versions of software). That said, this strategy is surefire when it comes to consumer products like Windows. Consumers will stick with what thye are comfortable with. The Network Effect. It's a huge gamble for professional tools like Adobe, and they are somewhat lucky there wasn't a timeline where GIMP un-GIMPED itself, nor where Krita and other modern competitors didn't get adopted faster. There's money at stake, so professionals can and will learn new tools if the tools bite them.
- jameshart 2y agoI’m not sure you can get away with the syllogism that just because some business practice is used by drug dealers it is automatically unethical if a legitimate business does the same thing. It’s like when someone offers to sell you a product weighed in grams, you can’t just say ‘ah yes, the drug dealer measurement system’ and dismiss their business out of hand. Because I don’t think the moral issue people have with drug dealers is that they take a deliberately easy going attitude to theft of their merchandise and allow others to profit from selling it to a territory, only to later on increase their prices.
- bustling-noose 2y agoCocaine dealers work similarly right ? The first ones are free so that you get addicted and come back for more when you have to pay for it.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- sneak 2y agoNo, this isn’t true.
- girvo 2y agoNot at all. Drug dealers have never "given the first hit for free": drugs are expensive, and they're (to a first approximation) lots of fun, they don't need addiction to be sold.
- eru 2y agoAnd: how would you even ensure that the person who just scored a free hit will come back to you, and not some other drug dealer (especially if she can just score another free hit for first time customers there)? However, I think it is a pretty common occurrence that first timers often get their first hit from friends or even co-workers.
- slimed 2y ago[dead]
- dang 2y agoWe detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40707515 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40707515. (there's nothing wrong with it other than it being a bit of a generic tangent, but I'm trying to prune the top-heavy subthreads)